THE RED-CAPPED GRASS-BABBLER. 
45 
the ferruginous of the belly tinged strongly with ashy ; tail brown, with 
paler edges, and distinctly rayed across. 
Bill black ; iris dark red ; eyelids dark bluish grey ; mouth black ; legs 
purpurescent brown ; claws horn-colour. 
Length 7 inches, tail 3'2, wing 2*5, tarsus 1, bill from gape '75. The 
female is the same size. 
I cannot discover any grounds for separating the Indian and Burmese 
bird from the Javan. The latter has perhaps rather less white on the fore- 
head, and has the head rather paler ; but these are characters which I have 
found to vary a good deal. They are identical in size and shape of bill. 
The Red-capped Grass-Babbler is a very common species all over Pegu ; 
there are few parts where I have not met with it. It is probably common 
over the whole of Arrakan, although I cannot find any specific mention of 
its occurrence in that division. Mr. Davison met with it in Tenasserim, 
at Pahpoon, and also at Yea-boo on the Attaran, but apparently nowhere 
else. 
Dr. Anderson procured it near Bhamo, and Colonel Godwin-Austen in 
the Eastern Bengal tracts. It occurs in Cachar, the Bengal Sunderbuns,- 
and at the foot of the mountains of Sikhim and Nipal. Dr. Tiraud states 
that it occurs in Cochin China. It is not known to inhabit any portion 
of the Malay peninsula, but it reappears in Java. 
This Wren-Babbler frequents secondary jungle and gardens in Upper 
Pegu ; but in the southern parts, where high grass is abundant, it seems to 
prefer this class of vegetation. In the plains between the Sittang and the 
Pegu rivers it is common to a remarkable degree. It is a bright, cheery 
bird, always on the move, but concealing itself so admirably that it is 
rarely seen. It moves rapidly through the most entangled thickets and 
clumps of grass, and has the habit of spreading its tail when uttering its 
call, which is a succession of pleasant notes. 
I have frequently found its nest in May and June — a domed structure 
made of grass, and placed either on the ground or in a fork of a bush 
close to it. It lays three eggs, which are white speckled with brown. 
